Kiran watched Adara sleep for a few minutes before taking the tray and quietly closing the door behind him. He went downstairs and placed the tray on the counter.“You have to eat something, Kiran. It’s been four days,” Malachi said as he put his paper down. “She’s not going anywhere in her condition. You can take ten minutes to eat.”Kiran sat down next to his father and filled the plate in front of him. He started eating, not having much of an appetite, but Malachi was right. He needed to eat if he didn’t want to turn himself sick.“She’s sleeping again,” he said as Karani sat down across from him.“That’s good. She needs to rest.” Karani looked at Malachi for a few seconds and he smiled. “Really?” Malachi asked and Kiran looked up at them.“Yes,” Karani said and smiled.“You guys are so weird,” he said.Kiran finished his food and left his plate on the table. Karani called him back and he sighed loudly and put his plate on the counter with Adara’s. He went back upstairs and sat on

I carried Adara back upstairs to her room and got her settled in her bed. She fell asleep almost instantly, and I stood there and watched her for a few minutes. These feelings were different. I wasn’t lusting after her as I had with Sarah in our relationship. I just wanted to be around her, and protect her. I needed to be around her.“James will call it being wolf-locked, but I call it the beginning of imprinting,” Karani said as I closed the door to Adara’s bedroom.I frowned as I looked at my mother. “That’s ridiculous.”“Kiran, you’ve started imprinting on her. The bond doesn’t always snap in place for everyone the same way. She’s very good at blocking things out and she’s blocking out the imprinting as well,” Karani said gently.I could feel Karani’s words slicing my soul. “So, she doesn’t feel it back?”“She does, but she’s fighting those feelings. It’s difficult to explain, Kiran. She didn’t have what you had, the years of wolf life and education. You grew up knowing what you ar

Ramos walked back into the house through the front door and slammed it so hard that Juniper jumped.“What happened?” she asked.“Have you made any attempt at finding Adara?” Ramos asked her.“Why?” Juniper narrowed her eyes at him and snapped. “Do you want her back here for some more midnight fun?” The moment the words were out of her mouth, she regretted it as he grabbed her around her throat with one hand.“What did you just say?” he sneered at her.“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way,” she pleaded and he let her go. She rubbed her neck where he had squeezed her so hard that she thought she would pass out. “I went to the police station and reported her as a runaway, just like you said I should.”The smile on Ramos’ face meant that he knew something she didn’t, and she hated it when he kept things from her. “What do you know?”“I know exactly where she is,” Ramos said.Juniper looked up at him. “Where is she?” She had been wondering where Adara had gone that night. She hadn’t taken

Adara felt much stronger than she had. It had been exactly seventeen days since she had first arrived at their house. Kiran had carried her downstairs two nights later and the living room had been full of people talking in low voices.Malachi had introduced her to them and told her that they all made up the wolfpack of Southern Alaska. The pack had voted that they would extend their protection to her, but since she wasn’t a member of their pack, no tribunal could be held to punish Ramos and Juniper. They would extend her the courtesy of joining their pack on her resurrection night.Malachi had accepted their vote since a man named Richard had argued that to get involved in outcast business would mean that they had to take it to the Council and most probably declare war. They spoke of a wolf that Kiran had killed and that most likely this would be the end of the outcasts in their territory.Kiran hovered, and he didn’t let Adara do anything for herself except shower and use the bathroo

They sat in the clearing on the ground as Karani told her more about life, how the pecking order in a pack worked, the different ways of becoming an Alpha and what that entailed as well. She told Adara about being born special and having wolf powers.Kiran could see and feel your emotions, so there was no point in lying to him about that. He could also see your aura and he could see Death. Not death, but Death, the person. That had been a shocking revelation to Adara. She’d never thought of Death as a person before.She remained silent about what it was that Malachi could do, but Adara knew that he also had powers of some kind. He seemed to know things at random.Karani could see your memories. She could also take your memories from you and replace them with something else, but that was something she seldom did.Karani also told Adara that she had powers of her own. Adara laughed at that but Karani was serious.“That day James found you in the garden, when I touched your hand, and you